Comfort Kills

“Comfort is not a component of what we are chasing” - Mike Tomlin

The great Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin was asked if the quick success they had experienced early in the 2024 season brought any comfort moving on to mid or late season. His response speaks volumes about his experience and wisdom as a coach. Without batting an eye or even taking time to ponder the question, he quickly spouted off, that “comfort wasn’t a component of what they were chasing”. What were they chasing? With little success in previous postseasons, he was saying they weren’t just looking to win some games, but in fact were looking to become the NFL World Champions of the 2024 season. They were looking to be the best of the best that season.

So, what did he mean about comfort not being a component of their post season success? When asking to be the best of the best in a highly competitive sport, it’s not an understatement when saying that it was a hard thing he was asking for, a hard thing they were chasing, but Mike understood that when chasing a hard thing, comfort kills.

G. Michael Hopf has a quote saying:

“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And weak men create hard times.”

He’s taking about strong men create times of comfort and as we grow comfortable, we can lose that drive and passion to continuously push to our final goal.

We all have goals, callings, dreams and passions we long to achieve in our lives. Whether we are pursuing careers, better relationships, ministries or revival. But the quickest way to kill your destiny or dream is to grow comfortable in the pursuit. Where we once put in extra work or took the extra steps to ensure growth toward our goal, comfort soothes our passion to a slow crawl.

Think of the life of King David. He was known for his bravery and courage, his leading on the battlefield. When he returned from battle, others would cheer of his success. He went through trying times and struggles but over time became king. Comfort begins to sneak into his life. There comes a time in his life, where as a king he should have led his army onto the battlefield but decided to stay home in the comfort of the palace. In doing so he sees Bathsheba bathing and we all know he slides down a slippery slope. He didn’t wake up one day and decide to sleep with his friend’s wife and have that said friend sent to his death on the battlefield. It began before that. Maybe months before, maybe years before, but regardless he allowed the comfort to infiltrate his passion. He quit doing the things that brought him success in the first place and replaced them with things that felt oh so good to his flesh and who blames him. What would you choose? To risk your life on the battlefield where there is the chance that you may not return or stay in a palace where your every desire will be met, where when you speak people move to make you comfortable. He allowed his fleshly desires to ultimately overrule what he knew he was called to do, which was lead. He was anointed for this. He was called for this.

We all experience times in our lives like this. Where God has called us as parents, spouses, children, employees, leaders, ministers, and so on, but after levels of success, it’s easy to grow comfortable in the doing. We justify easing off the gas pedal because things look okay on the outside. But like David, things looked nice in the palace, things looked nice in the Kingdom, but his decision led to a series of events that brought pain and suffering to his household. Had he chosen to step foot on that battlefield, his story would have looked much different.

I encourage you to keep your head down, keep pushing, keep moving forward. The Bible says that what God has spoken over you, must accomplish that which He intended to take place. When things are tough, keep pushing forward. When things seem easy, keep pushing forward. Don’t allow apathy to abort your destiny.